Many types of organizations use forms to acquire data from clients in order to provide services and run their business. Such organizations typically deploy computerized databases and other computerized systems for storing and otherwise processing the information conveyed in the forms. Typically, such systems process large numbers of forms and convert them into computer-readable information.
Some applications use paper forms that are filled in and submitted by clients. For example, IBM Corp. (Armonk, N.Y.) offers an Intelligent Forms Processing (IFP) system, which automates data capture from large numbers of paper forms. Additional details regarding the IFP system are available at www2.clearlake.ibm.com/GOV/ifp/. Another paper form processing system called “Digital Mailroom” is offered by the EMC Corporation (Hopkinton, Mass.). Further details regarding this product are available at www.captivasoftware.com/products/digitalMailroom.asp.
In some methods and systems, an encoded description of the form information is printed on the paper form. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,980 describes a form including user-modifiable fields and an encoded description of the location, size, and type of the fields, which allows direct programming of a form interpreter. Other information including the processing of the form, encoded data, etc., may be included in the encoded information. As another example, Adobe, Inc. (Uxbridge, United Kingdom), offers a product called Adobe® LiveCycle™ Barcoded Forms, which encodes form information in a two-dimensional barcode embedded in the form. Further details regarding this product are available at www.adobe.com/uk/products/server/barcodedpaperforms.
Some known methods and systems archive a digital representation of a document. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,308 describes a system for encoding, printing, retrieving and archiving pages of documents. Document information designators are encoded for pages. Each designator includes information regarding the location of the digital representation of the page and optionally includes page generation and reproduction information. An enhanced copier or facsimile machine scans the printed designator, retrieves the stored digital representation of the page and outputs a “subsequent original” of the page.